On November 17th, we will digitally release Lambchop – Live at XX Merge in the Merge store and our usual digital outlets. Only purchases from the Merge store will include a free download of the concert film. Live at XX Merge will also be available as a limited edition CD on November 24th, but those who pre-order the CD from the Merge store may download the audio on November 17th. The concert film is available exclusively in the Merge store.

Live at XX Merge is available in the following formats from the Merge store:

• Limited Edition CD + high definition QuickTime download (1280×720) of the concert film – $12.98 (CD preorders before November 24 will also receive an MP3 download code via email on November 17)
• MP3 + high definition QuickTime download (1280×720) of the concert film – $12.99 (Available November 17)
• MP3 + standard definition QuickTime download (400 × 225) of the concert film – $9.99 (Available November 17)

As Merge fans know, Lambchop has been on the label since 1993, releasing a string of widely varied but consistently brilliant records. But the live Lambchop experience has been somewhat elusive in the U.S.  While the band has toured the gilded theaters of Europe and elsewhere for nearly two decades, the Nashville group has seldom toured their home country. Kurt Wagner has performed solo on a recent Yo La Tengo tour, and Lambchop supported their recent album, (OH) Ohio, as an intimately stripped-down quintet in a couple of short bursts over the last year.  To help celebrate Merge’s 20th Anniversary the band showed up in one of their largest lineups in recent memory — 11-strong, including multiple guitars, keyboards, piano, and a horn section. Lambchop performing live is always a powerful proposition, but on this night they started quietly with “I Will Drive Slowly” from their first album (I Hope You’re Sitting Down) and accelerated from there, each song seemingly faster and more intensely played than the last, building to a furious finale of “Up With People” and an epic “Give It.” By the end of their set, everyone in the packed Cats Cradle – band and audience both – was levitating a few inches off the ground…

Lambchop’s set at XX Merge was professionally recorded and filmed, and is available now for those who missed it, or for those who want to go back again.

Lambchop – Live at XX Merge
Recorded by Nick Peterson
Mixed by Mac McCaughan
FOH Engineer: Mark Luecke

A Show Cobra Film
Directed by Matt Boyd
Produced by Jason Ross